Basic Volleyball Rules and Regulations For Scoring, Rotation Serving and the Court 

Beginner players get their frequently asked questions answered since they're trying to understand the basic volleyball rules when starting their playing career.

2017 NCAA Champion Nebraska Huskers court - photo by Manoosh - These questions about basic volleyball rules usually concern queries about court lines, what's legal and what's illegal when competing, how does scoring work, and much more. Photo by Manoosh

These questions usually concern queries about what the various lines on the court mean, what's legal and allowed when contacting the ball, and what is illegal when touching or not touching the ball when competing, how does scoring work, and much more.

Even though there are different disciplines of the sport like two person vs. two person, four player vs four player, these rules focus on the six person vs. six person style normally played in high school and collegiate matches and competition.  

Basic Volleyball Rules: Each team plays on a half court 30 x 30 feet. The two half courts are divided by a net.

• Each team plays on a half court 30 x 30 feet
• The two half courts are divided by a net
• The full court on which two teams compete against each other is 30 feet by 60 feet

• The two sidelines are the longest boundaries on the court
• The two endlines are the shortest boundaries on the court and they connect the sidelines
• The centerline runs under and parallel to the net and divides the full court into two half courts. 
• A ten foot line appears on both half courts and divides each half court into one third which marks the front court area commonly called the front row

Basic Volleyball Rules: NFHS Court Diagram

• Net height for high school girls is 7' 4 1/8
• Net height for high school boys is 7' 11 5/8"
• Two antennae are placed on each end of the net over the sidelines marking the vertical boundary of the court 

Basic Volleyball Rules: The first referee calls the game from an elevated stand watching for common volleyball faults, calls volleyball fouls, assigns points and sideouts.

The first referee

• calls the game from an elevated stand watching for common volleyball faults
• calls volleyball fouls, assigns points and sideouts
• final decision maker on questionable plays
• assigns violations and issues red or yellow cards 
• calls timeouts when requested properly
• watches the top of the net for adults during play
• runs the coin toss between captains and instructs them about basic pre-game rules and rituals 
• check scoresheet and sign it

Improve Your Volleyball - Meet VolleyBragSwag's Referee Panda Monium

Second referee

• Calls the game from the opposite side of the net across from the first referee while standing on the ground
• monitors each team's rotation order while in serve receive
• monitors scoring table, score and scoresheet
• watches action on the bottom of the net
• monitors substitution zone and libero entry and exit
• checks scoresheet and signs it at end of the match

Basic Volleyball Rule: 3 players are allowed in the front row and 3 are backcourt players. Each team has 1 libero allowed to be on the court during a rally (ASR Photo)

• A team can hold a roster of 12 -14 players 
• Only 6 players can be on the court to compete
• Three (3) players are allowed in the front row and three (3) are backcourt players
• Each team has one libero allowed to be on the court during a rally 
• Each team needs 1-2 players designated as a captain
• Only the captain(s) represents the team during the coin toss to determine who serves first and when talking to the referee during a rally 

• A volleyball match is played with the best 2 sets out of 3 or the best 3 sets out of 5
• A set is a game played between two teams until one team scores 25 points first 
• The winner of a match is the first team to win two sets out of three or three sets out of five
• If playing a five set match, a team can lose 2 sets in a row but must win the remaining three sets to be declared winner of the match 
• At the end of playing four sets, if both teams are tied at two sets apiece a tie break set is played. The winner of the tie break set, is the winner of the match 
• Tie break matches are played to 15. The team that scores 15 points first, wins the match
• In some competitions, when the first team scores seven points, the teams must switch sides before play is allowed to continue

• Teams use rally scoring during competition where the team that wins the rally regardless of who serves wins a point 

Basic Volleyball Rules: Teams use rally scoring during competition where the team that wins the rally regardless of who serves wins a point (White and Blue Review)

• A player can score a point by contacting the ball with any part of their body, 

• Only one consecutive contact is permitted per player. 
• A player cannot contact the ball twice in a row. 

• The ball can contact the net and be played off the net during a rally
• A player in the backrow can attack hit a ball as long as they take off from behind the ten foot line
• A backrow hitter can land in front of the ten foot line as long as they have contacted the ball before they land in the front row
• A setter can attack hit a ball as long as she is in the front row

Basic Volleyball Rules: A backrow hitter can land in front of the ten foot line as long as they have contacted the ball before they land in the front row (Michael E. Johnston)

A ball is out if: 

• it contacts the antenna before going out
• it lands anywhere outside of the opposing team's court without being touched or landing on a boundary line

Private or semiprivate volleyball indoor/sand lessons are an excellent way for young Las Vegas high school volleyball players to quickly improve their individual skills through a private or semi-private coaching experience. These lessons are conducted by former pro volleyball player, former USA Volleyball High Performance instructor and Evaluator and Tstreet Vegas 18s head Coach April Chapple on a weekly basis. Sign up now!

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I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.

Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.

If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list. 

Where do you need to go now?

Here are three options: 

1. Learn more about Basic Volleyball Rules. 
2. Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page   Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
3. Or visit the pages in the Rules section in the drop down menu at the top of the page. 

1. Improve Your Volleyball Performance with Private Volleyball Coach April Chapple
 ›
2. Important Rules of Volleyball All Varsity Players Should Know
 ›
3. Basic Volleyball Rules For Scoring, Rotation, Serving and the Court

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